Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wok F Daily with
Speaker 1: me your girl Daniel Moody recording from the home Bunker. Folks,
Speaker 1: look out your window, because apparently hell has in fact
Speaker 1: frozen over. Mitch McConnell has said that he will step
Speaker 1: down as the Republican leader in the Senate. While his
Speaker 1: term does not finish until January twenty twenty seven, he
Speaker 1: will not be seeking reelection, and he will be stepping
Speaker 1: down in November as leader in the Senate. Let me
Speaker 1: tell you something, as soon as I read that fucking headline,
Speaker 1: I was like, bye, bitch, bye. As you you know,
Speaker 1: because you've been listening to OKF for quite some time.
Speaker 1: I cannot fucking stand Mitch McConnell. I think that Mitch
Speaker 1: McConnell is indicative of everything that is wrong with America,
Speaker 1: with white supremacy, with patriarchy, and with white men having power.
Speaker 1: Mitch McConnell is the reason why we have a six
Speaker 1: to three Trump Supreme Court. You know, when I think
Speaker 1: about it now, and I posted a video yesterday talking
Speaker 1: about his decision to step down, I get so fucking
Speaker 1: angry sometimes when I think back to the Obama administration,
Speaker 1: particularly the last term, where Barack Obama said that he
Speaker 1: was choosing Merritgarland to be his Supreme Court nominee. Mitch
Speaker 1: McConnell then decides, well, I'm not even going to give
Speaker 1: you a hearing, and Barack Obama just says, okay, doesn't
Speaker 1: decide to take Mitch McConnell to court, doesn't decide to
Speaker 1: fight for his right as President of the United States
Speaker 1: to seat a Supreme Court justice, and just fucking acquiesced
Speaker 1: to that son of a bitch who would then not
Speaker 1: only jam Brett Kavanaugh a fucking rapist down our throats,
Speaker 1: but then also Cony Barrett. So when I think about
Speaker 1: Barack Obama and that moment, that is just indicative of
Speaker 1: how the Democratic Party has been. Republicans will pull every
Speaker 1: single fucking punch that they can, just egging, just waiting.
Speaker 1: You won't call my bluff, You gon'a try and take
Speaker 1: me to the mats, and Democrats say no, no, no, no, oh,
Speaker 1: it's okay, boss. Imagine where we would be right now.
Speaker 1: It would still be, in all honesty, a five to
Speaker 1: four court. Again, if Barack Obama had actually tried to
Speaker 1: fight in court for his right to seat a Supreme
Speaker 1: Court justice. And then when Joe Biden won the election
Speaker 1: and Mitch McConnell decided to ram again Amy Cony Barrett
Speaker 1: down our throats. If I'm Joe Biden and I'm coming
Speaker 1: in and I'm saying, no, I won the election, you
Speaker 1: do not have the right to seat this Supreme Court justice.
Speaker 1: And I would have fucking fought it, because what do
Speaker 1: you lose at the end of the day when you
Speaker 1: fight for the country, our democracy, and the base, what
Speaker 1: do you lose? You lose a whole lot when you
Speaker 1: decide to try and compromise with the fucking devil that
Speaker 1: laughs in your face. Republicans been playing in our faces
Speaker 1: for the last fucking eight and nine years under trump Ism.
Speaker 1: They were playing in our faces with the Tea Party
Speaker 1: and the fucking Birther movement, and we don't take them
Speaker 1: to the mats on these issues, and then look and
Speaker 1: are surprised when our rights are taken away and rolled
Speaker 1: back one fucking Supreme Court decision in one state at
Speaker 1: a time. It is just as much Mitch McConnell's fucking fault.
Speaker 1: But you know what he was going to do. He
Speaker 1: was showing you. The Democrats decided to lay the fuck
Speaker 1: down and thought that that made them look like, what
Speaker 1: the bigger person, Fuck your bigger person. The country is
Speaker 1: fucked because of it. So let me tell you something.
Speaker 1: Mitch McConnell couldn't have announced his retirement soon enough. He
Speaker 1: should have retired back in twenty twenty or twenty eighteen,
Speaker 1: or I don't know, fucking six decades ago. Also, if
Speaker 1: I'm the state of Kentucky and I'm looking around and
Speaker 1: I'm looking at your education numbers and your healthcare numbers
Speaker 1: and your obesity numbers, exactly what is it that Mitch
Speaker 1: McConnell did for the state of Kentucky. Not a fucking thing.
Speaker 1: You know. I saw a mean the other day that
Speaker 1: was so accurate. It was so accurate when it said
Speaker 1: the biggest trick that the Republican Party pulled off was
Speaker 1: convincing the American electorate that the party that was trying
Speaker 1: to give you healthcare, bodily autonomy, right, and access to
Speaker 1: the vote were the bad guys. So, you know, good
Speaker 1: riddance fucking Mitch McConnell. It clearly means if that motherfucker
Speaker 1: is letting go of power, then he must be on
Speaker 1: death's door and he couldn't get there soon enough. Coming
Speaker 1: up next, dear friends, my conversation with our in house doctor,
Speaker 1: our friend, doctor Jonathan Metzel. We are checking in with
Speaker 1: him to see how his book tour is going. If
Speaker 1: you have not gotten a copy of Jonathan's new book
Speaker 1: that is a New York Times bestseller, that is in
Speaker 1: the New York Times editors lists and editors picks What
Speaker 1: We've Become, go out and get yourself a copy. That
Speaker 1: conversation is coming up next, folks. I am so excited
Speaker 1: to be back with our friend, our in house doctor,
Speaker 1: doctor Jonathan Metzel, who's been doing the tour devorce around
Speaker 1: the country with his new book, What We've Become. Jonathan,
Speaker 1: So tell us you have been in all the places.
Speaker 1: Tell us about some of the experiences, the conversations that
Speaker 1: you have had, and what's coming up for people as
Speaker 1: they as they read your book.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much. I'm so glad to be
Speaker 2: back talking to you. I've missed you so much. It's
Speaker 2: been it's been a whirlwind. The book was on the
Speaker 2: cover of the New York Times Book Review and was
Speaker 2: an editor's pick from the New York Times, and then
Speaker 2: it just kind of took off from there, and so
Speaker 2: it's been it's been fantastic. I've been just came back
Speaker 2: from New Orleans last night. I'm actually doing my day
Speaker 2: job here for a couple of days, which they want
Speaker 2: me to show up and do every every once in
Speaker 2: a while. And then I'm heading to Kansas City to
Speaker 2: be a speaker at my old medical school, actually my
Speaker 2: my my alma mater. And then I'm going to be
Speaker 2: in North Carolina, and then I'm going to be back
Speaker 2: here in Nashville doing a book club. And so it's
Speaker 2: been a it's been a whirlwind, lots of different audiences.
Speaker 2: It's interesting time to be out there talking about politics,
Speaker 2: as you know, obviously as a non politician. But I'm finding,
Speaker 2: you know, obviously that there's a lot of hunger out
Speaker 2: there to talk about guns. And my book is about
Speaker 2: guns and mass shootings and race, but it's obviously a
Speaker 2: metaphor for a bunch of bigger issues also, and so
Speaker 2: it's been great to have those conversations. The best one
Speaker 2: by far was at green Light Bookstore in Brooklyn, New York,
Speaker 2: where you and I had a lovely, amazing conversation. But
Speaker 2: I'll post after this, I'll post to the show. Some
Speaker 2: of the images I sent you yesterday because it's been great.
Speaker 2: I was in d C talking to Neam Malika Henderson.
Speaker 2: I was in Boston talking to Beth Novak. I did
Speaker 2: a reading with my softball team in Brooklyn because we
Speaker 2: lost a teammate two years ago now to gun violence.
Speaker 2: And so it's just there's, you know, going out and
Speaker 2: talking about this issue people relate to in very personal ways.
Speaker 2: So parents of victims have come, conservatives have come, liberals
Speaker 2: have come, tons of crazy people have come and so
Speaker 2: and so it's been it's been I think it's been
Speaker 2: good to have these kind of conversations. It's for me
Speaker 2: reinforced my not what I know, which is that when
Speaker 2: you get off of social media and off of cable news,
Speaker 2: that you actually can have real conversations with people. So
Speaker 2: that part's been really nice. And again the book is
Speaker 2: quite provocative to conservatives but also to liberals, and so
Speaker 2: the other I think interesting part of it is that
Speaker 2: I was a bit nervous about what it would mean
Speaker 2: to challenge liberal dogma out there, but that part has
Speaker 2: been going really well.
Speaker 1: Also, I think too, whenever I have the opportunity, which
Speaker 1: is not often frankly, to get out and actually speak
Speaker 1: to real life people and get a sense of what
Speaker 1: the sentiments and feelings are on the ground. Like you said,
Speaker 1: we're in really precarious times as it pertains to our politics.
Speaker 1: You're not running for office, so you're not trying to
Speaker 1: convince people you know, of something, But I mean you
Speaker 1: are trying to shift their ideology around guns and how
Speaker 1: we approach them. So what have been some of the
Speaker 1: thoughts that people have offered that have, you know, maybe
Speaker 1: kind of give you pause, or thoughts that they have
Speaker 1: offered where you're just like, Okay, maybe we are making
Speaker 1: some headway here.
Speaker 2: I'll give you the opposite and then I'll answer that question.
Speaker 2: But the opposite for me, as people who've read the
Speaker 2: book now, I challenge the idea that's kind of core
Speaker 2: knowledge in the Democratic Party that guns are a public
Speaker 2: health emergency. I mean, they are a public health emergency.
Speaker 2: But I argue that what we're doing is not going
Speaker 2: to get us anywhere because things like background checks and
Speaker 2: red flag laws, if they're the core of our entire agenda,
Speaker 2: we're not going to shift some of the bigger things
Speaker 2: that are happening to us about the other side using
Speaker 2: the gun issue to put judges in place, and to
Speaker 2: for me, a huge issue is we have no real
Speaker 2: answer to permitless carry, which is the story of the
Speaker 2: story of the book. And so as much as I
Speaker 2: think background checks and read flag laws and all those
Speaker 2: things are important, I feel like they're always going to
Speaker 2: be protest issues against authority if we don't have a
Speaker 2: theory of power. And conversely, the Republicans or the NRA
Speaker 2: or whoever for them, guns is a conduit to power.
Speaker 2: And so I really am trying to say that, Now
Speaker 2: that's a hard thing for people to hear, sometimes, certainly
Speaker 2: people who have been involved in gun violence themselves. You know,
Speaker 2: I try to be very clear. I'm not saying guns
Speaker 2: are not a public health issue. It's just that framing
Speaker 2: them as a public health issue is not going to
Speaker 2: give us the kind of power to counter the power
Speaker 2: of the controlling the Supreme Court and things like that
Speaker 2: that we need actually a different strategy. But that's very
Speaker 2: personal for a lot of people. So that part has
Speaker 2: been I think hard and productive. You know, I always
Speaker 2: urge people to please read the book, because it's not
Speaker 2: like I'm saying I don't believe in gun laws. I
Speaker 2: just think that they're always going to be for structural reasons,
Speaker 2: a protest against power if we don't have a model
Speaker 2: of power. Also, so that part has been hard. But
Speaker 2: I would also say that there are just a lot
Speaker 2: of people who have a lot of and maybe this
Speaker 2: is how politics works, but a lot of alliance, a
Speaker 2: lot of alliance to the kind of every town line,
Speaker 2: which is background checks or a flag laws, all these
Speaker 2: kind of things. And so for that there's been a
Speaker 2: lot of pushback from the left in a way that
Speaker 2: is like, you can't say that because that's not what
Speaker 2: you know, that's not our position. So that part has
Speaker 2: been hard. But I would like to think that the
Speaker 2: hard times are the I would like to think that
Speaker 2: the hard times are the ones that are the most
Speaker 2: you know, when you challenge people, that's when the real
Speaker 2: conversation happens. So I would say that that would probably
Speaker 2: be my answer.
Speaker 1: And I wonder too, like, as you are going around
Speaker 1: the country now talking about your book, where you think
Speaker 1: that gun violence gun reform ranks in Biden's reelection campaign,
Speaker 1: like where you know, where do you think that those
Speaker 1: conversations are they being had? Are they being had enough?
Speaker 1: And frankly, are they being discussed in the right way.
Speaker 2: Well, they matter a lot to Biden's reelection campaign for
Speaker 2: the reason I talk about in the book, which is
Speaker 2: that Trump went to the NRA and he said, nobody's
Speaker 2: going to touch your guns, I'm and so he told
Speaker 2: people they could keep their guns and keep their power.
Speaker 2: And that's what NRA people like to hear, and they
Speaker 2: vote on this one hundred percent of the time. Like
Speaker 2: I show that Republicans vote because of Trump's line on guns,
Speaker 2: but Democrats don't vote based on gun related issues. And
Speaker 2: so our line is based in regulation and common sense
Speaker 2: laws and trust in public health and mandates. But that
Speaker 2: doesn't drive Democrats to the polls. And so even if
Speaker 2: people don't vote on guns as a wedge issue, which
Speaker 2: it shows is not the case with Democrats, they vote
Speaker 2: on other things. But you can be sure that Trump
Speaker 2: voters are going to be voting on guns as a
Speaker 2: wedge issue. And so that's part of the issue. Is
Speaker 2: I'm not saying everybody needs to vote on guns. People
Speaker 2: vote on a bunch of different issues. But I would
Speaker 2: just say that whether or not it's an issue for Biden,
Speaker 2: it certainly is going to be a driver for Trump voters,
Speaker 2: and so we need to at least recognize.
Speaker 1: That, you know, I'm wondering, Jonathan, Like you know that
Speaker 1: we have several months right now between now and November,
Speaker 1: and sadly, in the way that things work in America,
Speaker 1: I'm certain that there'll be multiple mass shootings that will happen.
Speaker 1: I'm not quite sure. And you tell me, because I
Speaker 1: know that there are conversations around how we measure mass
Speaker 1: shootings now because there are so many that how we
Speaker 1: measure them needs to change. But I'm wondering. You know,
Speaker 1: we also know that the former head of the NRA
Speaker 1: was just charged, you know, with massive amounts of fraud
Speaker 1: here in New York. How does any of these things like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, Like, like I believe Democrats are not
Speaker 1: single issue voters, and we have so many things that
Speaker 1: are coming at us right now, and I think that
Speaker 1: there is a sense of being worn out. But like
Speaker 1: in your mind obviously, you know, you just laid out
Speaker 1: the difference between Biden and Trump. But I'm just like wondering,
Speaker 1: outside of the headlines, do you think that guns are
Speaker 1: front of mind for people?
Speaker 2: As you know from my time piece, I think the
Speaker 2: bigger issue with guns isn't just about guns. It's about
Speaker 2: the threat they present to democracy and democratic governance that
Speaker 2: gun politics do. And so I would say that whether
Speaker 2: or not Democrats feel like, oh guns is my issue,
Speaker 2: and I'm going to go to the poll based on guns,
Speaker 2: which is true for some people and not for other people.
Speaker 2: Your future freedom depends on what's going to happen in
Speaker 2: that election. And there are ways in which the Republicans
Speaker 2: mobilize around the gun issue. And I'll give you an example.
Speaker 2: We get are furious after mass shootings. We protest after
Speaker 2: mass shootings, we demand change after mass shootings. The Republicans
Speaker 2: don't do that. But South Carolina and Louisiana now are
Speaker 2: passing what's called constitutional carry, permitless carry. We now have
Speaker 2: the states in the country. Pretty soon here they're going
Speaker 2: to allow people to carry guns without any training, any permit. Now,
Speaker 2: the story I tell in the book is how permitless
Speaker 2: carry makes it impossible to stop mass shootings, but it
Speaker 2: also creates a kind of sense of lawlessness. I mean,
Speaker 2: these guys know that flooding guns into cities leads to
Speaker 2: more crime, and then they point to crime as an issue.
Speaker 2: And so in a way, while we're out there protesting,
Speaker 2: the Republicans have been the cops with n RA is
Speaker 2: probably important. But the fact that we're not focusing enough
Speaker 2: on the rise of just armed people in society right now.
Speaker 2: That's what happened to the Kansas City Super Bowl parade.
Speaker 2: I was going to say, yep, you know, two guys
Speaker 2: got in a shooting and then nine hundred other people
Speaker 2: whipped out their guns. And so in a way, the
Speaker 2: Republicans are using the gun issue to change society, to
Speaker 2: change how people feel about the public square, to change
Speaker 2: how people trust each other. And so I just think
Speaker 2: I agree. I mean, people are going to vote for
Speaker 2: Gaza or for climate, or for age, or for they
Speaker 2: love Robert F. Kennedy Junior or whatever, you know, like
Speaker 2: they're going to vote for a bunch of crazy, weird
Speaker 2: reasons or real reasons or urgent reasons. But but the
Speaker 2: issue is we're up against an opponent that is not
Speaker 2: not broad like that, Like the opponent is going to
Speaker 2: base vote. Guns is one of the court issues that
Speaker 2: people are going to vote on, and so it's not
Speaker 2: you know, I just think we need to be a
Speaker 2: lot more disciplined in the face of what it suggests
Speaker 2: about what we're up against. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1: Yeah? And I you know, I just want to go
Speaker 1: back to something that you said, which was, you know
Speaker 1: that the Republicans they're using the gun issue as a
Speaker 1: way to change our relationship with guns. And I would
Speaker 1: argue there was something that I saw earlier this week
Speaker 1: in Texas, for instance, where Greg Gabbott is, you know,
Speaker 1: creating a policy that essentially has people turn in their neighbors,
Speaker 1: right like, has people turn on their neighbors as it
Speaker 1: pertains to their like potential immigration status or what have you.
Speaker 1: And it's really what I realize from that is that
Speaker 1: like the whole love thy neighbor part of you know,
Speaker 1: Christianity and the Bible is lost on these people. There
Speaker 1: is no love thy neighbor. It's fear thy neighbor. It's
Speaker 1: you know, turn on thy neighbor. And I'm wondering for you, like,
Speaker 1: how does the proliferation of guns really go hand in
Speaker 1: hand with our lack of ability to build community with
Speaker 1: other with people outside of that look like us, you
Speaker 1: know that are considered quote unquote other.
Speaker 2: But also it's got you know, you go into the
Speaker 2: public square mistrusting people fearing the worst, pulling out your
Speaker 2: gun just in case. And so it certainly has tribalizing
Speaker 2: functions that are very self perpetuating. But the other thing
Speaker 2: is I write about in that time piece is like,
Speaker 2: because of the Bruined decision, it's also incredibly anti democratic
Speaker 2: And by that I mean that By that, I mean
Speaker 2: that people have voted for gun policies in places like Oregon,
Speaker 2: for example, or Virginia, but the judges now can overturn
Speaker 2: the will of the voters because of the Bruined decision,
Speaker 2: And so it's also a model for anti democracy because
Speaker 2: people vote for safety laws that can then be overturned.
Speaker 2: So Republicans are also using the gun issue to put
Speaker 2: power in their lifetime appointed judges in a way that
Speaker 2: overturns the will of the voters in ways that I
Speaker 2: think is another big issue obviously this if this whole
Speaker 2: election is about democracy, guns are a really core component
Speaker 2: to that and people. So hopefully for people who read
Speaker 2: the book, they'll see what I mean. But I have
Speaker 2: a lot of very concrete examples of that.
Speaker 1: What are your hopes for this book and how it
Speaker 1: shapes our conversations moving forward, Like there is a sense
Speaker 1: and I you know, we talk about this all the
Speaker 1: time here of just hopelessness around this issue that just
Speaker 1: continues to get worse. Republicans get more savvy. You're laying
Speaker 1: out all the ways in which you know, they have
Speaker 1: increased gun proliferation and changed the laws and bought the
Speaker 1: judges and done all the things. And so for a
Speaker 1: lot of people, as they're listening to this, they're just like,
Speaker 1: fuck it, it's a lost cause, you know, And so
Speaker 1: I want like, so yeah, so please.
Speaker 2: The rebindless is true for every issue, but the twenty
Speaker 2: four election honestly is make or break for this issue.
Speaker 2: You I think that if we win the twenty four election,
Speaker 2: we have the ability to totally upend the American gun debate.
Speaker 2: It's not you know, my students think it's about are
Speaker 2: you four against the Second Amendment? That you know we're
Speaker 2: thirty years past that. It's really can we invest and
Speaker 2: rebuild in community infrastructure in ways that make people feel
Speaker 2: safe and like they don't need to carry a gun
Speaker 2: every time they need the house? Leave the house? So
Speaker 2: I think, you know, that will depend on who's sitting
Speaker 2: on the Supreme Court. It depends on who's sitting in
Speaker 2: all the other judge, judge ships. I just think power
Speaker 2: will create the ability to change that conversation. And so
Speaker 2: the stakes of this coming election, like for everything else,
Speaker 2: could not possibly be higher. I just think that people,
Speaker 2: you know, people's great grandchildren will bear the implications of
Speaker 2: whether we have nine NRA Supreme Court judges or we
Speaker 2: whether we take back power on the Supreme Court, for example,
Speaker 2: And so guns are obviously one part of that story,
Speaker 2: but I think a pretty considerable one.
Speaker 1: So you, I mean, you come at this from an
Speaker 1: angle of we need to change course, but you still have,
Speaker 1: what I hear in your voice, a sense of hopefulness
Speaker 1: that like there is still fight to be had, and
Speaker 1: I think that, and I think, but you know, and
Speaker 1: I want to I want you to talk about that
Speaker 1: because I think that where this issue but a whole
Speaker 1: host of issues where people are feeling, you know, drained,
Speaker 1: and they're just like there is no hope. Every every
Speaker 1: day is another horrible headline. Every day is another policy
Speaker 1: that's being passed that goes against the will of the people.
Speaker 1: But Republicans don't care.
Speaker 2: Well, here's the thing. We have an ability, like you know,
Speaker 2: a year from now, we won't have the opportunity that
Speaker 2: we have now one way or another, so we actually
Speaker 2: have an election where we have a say in how
Speaker 2: things are going to play out. Now. I understand a
Speaker 2: lot of people are not thrilled with the two options,
Speaker 2: but there is I think Charles Blow was right about
Speaker 2: this over the weekend on Instagram. We have a really
Speaker 2: clear decision about the future of our country. There are
Speaker 2: two very radical decisions and directions. And not that like
Speaker 2: anyone is perfect, but these are the two decisions that
Speaker 2: we have, the two directions that we have, and so
Speaker 2: I think that either we're going to either we're going
Speaker 2: to kind of keep working towards the project that we're on,
Speaker 2: or the whole thing is going to kind of evaporate.
Speaker 2: And so at least right now, I'm optimistic because we
Speaker 2: have a voice right now. And as you know, I
Speaker 2: have a lot of I have a lot of liberal
Speaker 2: friends in Israel. And it's funny, but I was in
Speaker 2: Israel before Nitta Yah was elected and they were feeling like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, we're going through this again. We're exhausted.
Speaker 2: The problem in Israel was the other side, the right
Speaker 2: evil side in Israel, was totally mobilized, and so what
Speaker 2: happened in the Israel election, and I'll tell you why
Speaker 2: I'm telling you this, But what happened in Israel election
Speaker 2: was that the left voted in the same numbers that
Speaker 2: they had for every election, kind of their average sixty
Speaker 2: one percent, but the right voted seventy nine percent, totally energized,
Speaker 2: and Nitanya, who has overtaken the courts, got the country
Speaker 2: into a war, threatened the existence of the entire country,
Speaker 2: all these kind of things. And so when I talked
Speaker 2: to my friends in Israel now, they're like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: I wish we would have done more. We felt so
Speaker 2: blase before this election, and it cost us everything, including
Speaker 2: like our essets, our existence. And for me that talking
Speaker 2: to the guys like that, it's just such a it's
Speaker 2: such a wake up call for me, because it's kind
Speaker 2: of like the left kind of figured, well, we need
Speaker 2: to shake things up. I don't trust the people I'm against.
Speaker 2: But being detached was the strategy of the right. They
Speaker 2: wanted the people on the left to feel like it
Speaker 2: doesn't really matter, your vote doesn't matter. And I feel
Speaker 2: like the same thing's being done to the left here.
Speaker 2: And again I just always think back, I have a
Speaker 2: piece I'm writing about it now. Interviewing Israeli leftists a
Speaker 2: month after that Nitan Yahoo election, and they were in
Speaker 2: shock about what it meant for their lives. They realized
Speaker 2: this is going to lead to a war and international
Speaker 2: isolation and the end of their rights. But even in
Speaker 2: a place like Israel, where people are pretty attuned with democracy,
Speaker 2: the strategy of telling people their vote didn't matter was
Speaker 2: really effective. And I feel like the same thing is
Speaker 2: being done here. I really do feel like, who, you know,
Speaker 2: there's obviously very real issues. I'm not trying to step
Speaker 2: away from that. But the strategy of convincing people their
Speaker 2: vote doesn't matter is what's being pumped across social media
Speaker 2: to everybody right now. And the question is how we're
Speaker 2: going to mobilize around them.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And the funny thing is, and you know, we'll
Speaker 1: close on this, is that you know, in twenty sixteen,
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty, in twenty sixteen, twenty eighteen, twenty twenty,
Speaker 1: and you know, and twenty twenty two we've had the
Speaker 1: highest turnout we've ever had, right Like, So it's a
Speaker 1: point of yes, that is their strategy, but the people
Speaker 1: of this country have also been responding every year since
Speaker 1: with their action and their turnout at the polls, and
Speaker 1: so I don't want that to be lost on people
Speaker 1: as well as always, my friend Johnathan, We're so happy,
Speaker 1: proud and excited for you and this book. We wish
Speaker 1: you continued success as you continue your tour.
Speaker 2: Really, thank you so much. And let me just say
Speaker 2: that some listeners to the show reached out to ask
Speaker 2: if I would do a book club, and I would
Speaker 2: be delighted anytime anybody wants to just let me know,
Speaker 2: but if you're if you're a WOKF listener, I would
Speaker 2: be delighted to do a book club.
Speaker 1: Absolutely wonderful. Thank you. That is it for me today,
Speaker 1: dear friends on Woke a F as always, Power to
Speaker 1: the people and to all the people. Power, get woke
Speaker 1: and stay woke as fuck. MHM.